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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Double standards, anyone ????

As a society in general, we like to instantly voice our dissaproval, anger et al at any perceived wrongdoing. Take racism for example. Everyone remembers what happened during the Indian team's tour to Australia last winter. The Indian media made it sound as if the whole country (not just Harbhajan Singh) was wronged against and therefore, it was made an issue of national pride (never mind that nobody till date knows whether Bhajji said 'monkey' or something else back at Symonds). But anyways this post is not about cricket or that stormy incident. The point I am trying to make is that while we made such a hue and cry about that incident (in which we were the apparent 'victims'), we have so shockingly overlooked a scene in a recent movie that shows racism and its stark reality.

I am talking about Madhur Bhandarkar's latest 'Fashion'. Everyone who has seen it will recollect the scene in which the movie's protagonist finally hits rock bottom in her fall from grace. And when does she realize this ? When she finds herself in bed with......... ??? Yes, a black man. Now the director could have chosen any stranger (Indian, white etc) in this case. But he simply played on the racisim that we, as a society, practise as well. So he chose a brawny but black man (and for good contrast, the sheets on the bed were white if I remember !!). As if trying to say that there is nothing more demeaning and disgusting in life than sleeping with a black man. And, answer me honestly, how many of you in the audience cringed when you saw that person besides Ms. Meghna Mathur ????.

Now, not for a moment that I am posing as a 'holier-than-thou' person. I admit that I myself was made aware of this when I read about the scene a couple of days back. So I am not at all distancing myself from the rest of the audience or society. But having read that piece, it has stayed with me since, And the more I thought about it, the more surprising it appeared to me that no one ever thought of that scene as objectionable. Neither our self-proclaimed guardians of morality, the media, and nor even the censors who otherwise were happily chopping away shots of cigarrette-smoking, drug use etc. Now substitute Fashion with a Hollywood movie, Priyanka Chopra with a top Hollywood actress (white, of course) and the man with an Indian-American actor. I am sure the media here would have bought the house down with their protests. But when our media does the same thing, no one even notices.